Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A.A. History Inquiry about Dr. Bob and St. Johnsbury VT

[The
following is a very informative letter just sent to an inquirer in St.
Johnsbury wanting to interview us on our knowledge of St . Johnsbury Vermont
and the relationship of A.A.'s Dr. Bob and the Judge Walter Smith family to the
historical importance of this little village. The letter was prepared by my son
Ken and is based on the numerous investigative research trips regarding
Alcoholics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous History and Dr. Bob, co-founder
of A.A.. Readers will find it an excellent starting point for Dr. Bob details.
God Bless, Dick B.]

Maui is on H.A.S.T. ("Hawaii time"), which is currently five hours
earlier than E.S.T., so 5:00 p.m., your time, would be noon, our time. We might
be available for an interview via Skype, if you would like. Please let us know
by email if you would like to try to set that up.

There are several people we have met or have learned of during our trips to St.
Johnsbury who could also be of help to you concerning Dr. Bob:

1.
Joanne Bertrand, former archivist at St. Johnsbury Academy. She helped my dad
and me do research in the St. Johnsbury Academy archives downstairs in the
Grace Orcutt Library during our St. Johnsbury research trip in June 2008. The
librarian at the Academy told us in September 2012 that, although Joanne no
longer works in the library, she is still lives in St. Johnsbury and is listed
in the phone book.

2. Lisa Von Kann, Library Director, or Shara McCaffrey, Assistant Librarian
[and (former?) President of the St. Johnsbury Historical Society] at St.
Johnsbury Athenaeum. They both helped my dad and me a great deal when we did
research at the Athenaeum in June 2008 in association with our book, Dick B.
and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the
Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont: http://dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml.

3. Peggy Pearl, director of the St. Johnsbury History and Heritage Center: http://stjhistory.org/wordpress/?page_id=2.
We have not met Peggy, but we sent her a copy of our book, Dr. Bob of
Alcoholics Anonymous, while she worked at the Fairbanks Museum in 2008.

In the meantime, here is some background information I prepared for a friend
who visited St. Johnsbury in 2009.

There are four key buildings which figured importantly in the Christian
upbringing of Robert Holbrook Smith, "Dr. Bob"--cofounder of
Alcoholics Anonymous: Dr. Bob's Birthplace and Boyhood Home (297 Summer St.),
North Congregational Church (1325 Main St.), the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum (1171
Main St.), and the St. Johnsbury Academy (1000 Main St.). They are all within
walking distance of each other.

** For background on the significance of these four places in Dr. Bob's
upbringing in St. Johnsbury, I strongly encourage you to read as much as you
can of Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good
Book as a Youngster in Vermontby Dick B. and Ken B.

"Dr. Bob's Birthplace and Boyhood Home" is located at 297 Summer
Street.

(It's
address was "20 Summer Street" during Dr. Bob's youth.) It is
currently owned by a hospital, andthe "Kingdom Recovery Center"
oversees some or all of what happens there. Here is their new web site: http://www.kingdomrecoverycenter.com/

. I
strongly encourage you to contact Erin S. Campbell, the Volunteer scheduling and
Activity Coordinator at Dr. Bob's Birthplace in advance so that you can connect
with her when you arrive. She is aware of Dick B.'s research work. (There is a
form you can use on the Kingdom Recovery Center web site to contact her. She
also has a Facebook page.)

Istrongly encourage you to note the office hours on the web
site and to contact Pastor Jay Sprout in advance so that he can tell you about
the Dr. Bob Core Library at North Congregational Church when you arethere. ** I
(Ken B.) personally delivered more than 1,840 pages of historical materials to
Pastor Jay Sprout as we were leaving town after our second research trip in
June 2008. The papers were segregated into U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail
Envelopes inside a bankers box. The copies were from our work in the North
Congregational Church archives, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, the St. Johnsbury
Academy archives, andthe Vermont State Historical Library in Barre, Vermont.
(The papers have since been put in binders which are on the book shelves which
are part of the Dr. Bob Core Library.) The Dr. Bob Core Library is located on
some of the book shelves in the room where there is a piano. (It is not the
main church sanctuary.) There should be about three other black, three-ringed
binders with papers about St. Johnsbury, and also a number of old books. In
addition, there may still be a box of mydad's books there which areavailable
for people to take for free. Any details you can provide us--especially in the
form of sharp digital pictures which you can send to us as attachments to email
messages--would be greatly appreciated.

There
are two books relating to the history of North Congregational Church which
could give you insight into the involvement of Dr. Bob and his family in the
church: (1) Manual of the North Church, St. Johnsbury, Vt. 1877; and (2)
Arthur F. Stone, The History of the North Congregational Church of St.
Johnsbury, Vermont: 1825-1942. Photocopies of key pages of one or both of
those books may be in the papers in the Dr. Bob Core Library at the church, in
the church archives, or at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.

This building was given to the Town of St. Johnsbury in 1871 by Horace Fairbanks--one
of the two members of the Fairbanks familiy who was a governor of the State of
Vermont. It served as the library for the St. Johnsbury Academy during the time
Dr. Bob attended (1894-1898).

You might want to call ahead andarrange to meet with Lisa Von Kann, the Library
Director, or Shara McCaffrey, the Assistant Librarian. They areboth very
knowledgeable about the time period from 1875 (the "Great Awakening"
of 1875 in St. Johnsbury) to1898 (when Dr. Bob graduated from St. Johnsbury
Academy).

There is a locked glass case of very rare books about the Town of St. Johnsbury
on the first floor. If you have time, you might want to ask to see them.

The Caledonian Record newspaper is available on microfilm upstairs. (I
made many copies of pages of this newspaper from February 6, 1875, through the
end of August 1875--the main period of the "Great Awakening" of 1875
in St. Johnsbury--which are in the Dr. Bob Core Library in North Congregational
Church.)

There
is a picture of North Hall andSouth Hall of St. Johnsbury Academy--as they
looked when Dr. Bob attended St. Johnsbury Academy--on the back of Dr. Bob
of Alcoholics Anonymous. North Hall burned on March 6, 1956, and was
replaced by Ranger Hall. South Hall also no longer exists in its original form.

I strongly suggest you contact Mrs. Joanne Bertrand, former archivist at the
Grace Stuart Orcutt Library of St. Johnsbury Academy. She lives in St.
Johnsbury--as of September 2012--and the Academy's librarian told me she is
listed in the St. Johnsbury telephone book.

The authoritative book on St. Johnsbury is: Edward T. Fairbanks, The Town of
St. Johnsbury, Vt.: A Review of One Hundred Twenty-Five Years tothe Anniversary
Pageant 1912. It is available in "Full View" via Google Books:

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About Me

Richard G. Burns holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Stanford University where he was Case Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He was a Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior Year at UC Berkeley. There he received an A.A. degree in economics with Honorable Mention. He was an Information and Education Specialist in the United States Army where he held the rank of Sgt. He attended the information-education school at Washington & Lee University. He practiced law in California from 1951 to 1986. He was president of the Corte Madera Chamber of Commerce, Corte Madera Center Merchants Council, Mill Valley Community Church, Redwoods Retirement Center, and Almonte District Improvemen Club. Also elected Director of the Almonte Sanitary District. He is a writer, historian, retired attorney, Bible student, CDAAC, and active recovered member of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous with continuous sobriety beginning April 21, 1986.

He writes under the pen name Dick B. He has devoted 24 years to researching the history and successes of the early A.A. Christian Fellowship in Akron; and published 46 titles, more than 1450 articles, and materials on Facebook, Twitter, MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com, Alcoholics Anonymous History.com, In the Rooms, Linked-in, Tumbler, MauiHistorian.Word Press.com, Aa Historian WordPress.com, AA History with Dick B. on cyber recovery social, Dick B. YouTube Channel, Articles Base, GoArticles.com, SearchWarp, Self Growth Experts, Social network forums on International Christian Recovery Coalition Forums, Recovery Internet Fellowship, Cyber Recovery, Daily Recovery, Christian Recovery Ministries, radio, TV, and over 70 audio blogs on the history subject. He regularly conducts radio interviews of Christian Recovery Leaders and Workers on www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com.

He is Executive Director of the International Christian Recovery Coalition and of Freedom Ranch Maui Incorporated. He is an Advisor to God's Way Ministry, a Christian Church and is also a consultant to Wyoming Pacific Oil Company. Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Law, Who's Who in Finance, and Gale's Contemporary Authors